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mp_sf_list_0_title: Fact or Fiction: A U-boat dropped German saboteurs on a Long Island beach where Martha vacationed.
mp_sf_list_0_description: FACT: “Yes, it’s known as Operation Pastorius,” says series co-writer and historian, Linda May Kallestein. “The U-boat surfaced not far from where Martha was staying in Long Island that summer.”
In June 1942, two squads of saboteurs—all U.S. residents who returned to Germany to serve the Reich—were dropped by U-boat on beaches in New York and Florida, respectively. They brought explosives and cash and had plans that included disrupting New York’s water supply. While J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI claimed credit for their quick arrests, the saboteurs’ plot was actually foiled from within: The group’s leader, 39-year-old George Dasch (2